Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Thing

Thing (thing) , noun

[Anglo-Saxon þing a thing, cause, assembly, judicial assembly; akin to þingan to negotiate, þingian to reconcile, conciliate, Dutch ding a thing, Old Saxon thing thing, assembly, judicial assembly, German ding a thing, formerly also, an assembly, court, Icelandic þing a thing, assembly, court, Swedish & Danish ting; perhaps originally used of the transaction of or before a popular assembly, or the time appointed for such an assembly; compare German dingen to bargain, hire, Middle High German dingen to hold court, speak before a court, negotiate, Gothic þeihs time, perhaps akin to Latin tempus time. Compare Hustings, and Temporal of time.]

1.
Whatever exists, or is conceived to exist, as a separate entity, whether animate or inanimate; any separable or distinguishable object of thought.
God made... every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind. — Gen. i. 25
He sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt. — Gen. xiv. 23
A thing of beauty is a joy forever. — Keats
2.
An inanimate object, in distinction from a living being; any lifeless material.
Ye meads and groves, unconscious things! — Cowper
3.
A transaction or occurrence; an event; a deed.
[And Jacob said] All these things are against me. — Gen. xlii. 36
Which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. — Matt. xxi. 24
4.
A portion or part; something.
Wicked men who understand any thing of wisdom. — Tillotson
5.
A diminutive or slighted object; any object viewed as merely existing; -- often used in pity or contempt.
See, sons, what things you are! — Shakespeare
The poor thing sighed, and... turned from me. — Addison
I'll be this abject thing no more. — Granville
I have a thing in prose. — Swift
6.
Clothes; furniture; appurtenances; luggage; as, to pack or store one's things. [Colloquial]
And them she gave her moebles and her thing. — Chaucer
In the garden [he] walketh to and fro, And hath his things [i. e., prayers, devotions] said full courteously. — Chaucer
Hearkening his minstrels their things play. — Chaucer

Formerly, the singular was sometimes used in a plural or collective sense.

Thing was used in a very general sense in Old English, and is still heard colloquially where some more definite term would be used in careful composition.

7.
(Law) Whatever may be possessed or owned; a property; -- distinguished from person.
8.
In Scandinavian countries, a legislative or judicial assembly. — Longfellow
Collocations (2)
Things personal (Law) , Same as Personal property, under Personal.
Things real , Same as Real property, under Real.

Thing , noun

[Danish thing, ting, Norw. ting, or Swedish ting.]

In Scandinavian countries, a legislative or judicial assembly; -- used, esp. in composition, in titles of such bodies. See Legislature, Norway.

Also: Ting